Medical Journal Fights Endorsement Claims

Published 7:00 pm, Tuesday, February 25, 2003

The New England Journal of Medicine is fighting back against drug-supplement companies that are falsely claiming the journal endorses a hormone promoted over the Internet as an anti-aging miracle.

The journal never endorses products. For at least a year, it has been trying unsuccessfully to get several Web sites and Internet mass mailers to drop claims that a tiny study published in the journal 13 years ago proves human growth hormone works, said Dr. Jeffrey M. Drazen, editor in chief.

"It makes my blood boil to see this happen," he said. "People were sending me letters saying, `How can you endorse this stuff?'"

Some of the ads falsely quote the study's lead author, Dr. Daniel Rudman, as calling synthetic human growth hormone a wonder drug. Some ads link readers to the brief, highly technical summary of the study on the journal's Web site as proof.

In the study, 12 elderly men with low levels of growth hormone received a synthetic version for six months, and saw small increases in bone and muscle mass. But the main conclusion was only that diminished secretion of the natural hormone caused a decrease in muscle mass and skin thickness and the extra body fat typical of aging.

Still, dozens of Internet marketers of growth hormone products, which like other diet supplements are sold without government approval, claimed the study proves that their synthetic hormone or hormone-stimulating products reverse the aging process by up to 20 years. Claims range from eliminating wrinkles, fat and cellulite to increasing bone and muscle mass, stamina and sexual potency and restoring lost hair _ in its original color.

Drazen wrote an editorial in Thursday's issue of the journal denouncing the tactic. He noted the original study had several flaws and was accompanied by a critical editorial by Dr. Mary Lee Vance. She wrote that the study was too short to show the risks or to demonstrate whether any benefits would last, so general use "is not justified."

"There are likely to be significant and devastating side effects," Drazen said this week.

Because the July 5, 1990, study was getting 10,000 Internet "hits" a month _ nearly 250 times more than other articles from the period _ the journal on Jan. 31 posted the entire article, not just the summary, with Vance's editorial.

A new editorial by Vance in Thursday's journal adds to her original criticisms, saying synthetic growth hormone could increase the risk of cancer in elderly people. She said subsequent research showed that growth hormone does not increase muscle strength or breathing capacity, and that oral versions of the hormone could not work because stomach acid would destroy them.

Journal attorney Joe Appel has called and written cease-and-desist letters to several of the companies, with no response, and asked the attorneys general in Massachusetts and New Jersey to investigate.

The companies he cited include Ultimate Health of Madison, N.J., which did not respond to telephone inquiries from The Associated Press, and The American Anti-Aging Society. There is no telephone listing for its headquarters in Knoxville, Tenn., and its Web site appears to have been shut down.

Dozens of other marketers are using the society's marketing materials, with the same disputed claims, and charging up to $80 for a month's supply of the hormones.

The New Jersey attorney general's office said it is looking into complaints from the journal and a dozen people about Ultimate Health.